“Good Morning Sunshine”, Words spoken many times to a bright, ambitious, beautiful young girl who had the world by the tale. A young lady who had grown into a bright vibrant young women with a husband and two small boys. How could it be, that at 39 years old, she is gone from this earth and is in her Heavenly home? This is the story of our beautiful daughter Tami.

It is said that hindsight is always 20/20. You don’t always see what is right in front of you. We worry about the big issues but don’t pay attention to the little details until it is too late. Time passes so quickly, yet we keep putting off some of the most important issues we need to address due to the lack of time.

Tami was one of those people that never knew a stranger. With her beautiful blonde hair and that infectious smile, she had you from “Hello”. Yet, just like you and I, she only had 24 hours in a day. She filled every waking minute with love and affection for her God, her Family and her career. Having been raised on the family dairy farm, gave her an appreciation for all of these.

Then four years ago, a change began to take place. She noticed one day that she couldn’t speak for just a split second. Just happened once in a while, nothing serious.  But then, six months later, the split second turned into 4-8 seconds, just once in a while, twelve months later she has these mini blackouts which last for a minute or more along with heavy salivating from her mouth almost weekly now. She seeks care from a doctor who tells her she is having panic attacks. She is also advised to seek psychiatric help. We begin to see a change in attitude and emotions. She starts distancing herself from friends and family. Daily calls to mom and dad to” just check in” begin to be less frequent. She starts to work out and do yoga which are suggested by a doctor friend.  She starts to follow a healthy life style by eating healthy foods. This seems to relieve some of the stress, but not the symptoms. She seeks advice from another doctor who changes her medication.

We are now three years into this situation. Memory starts to be a problem. The panic attacks are now a daily event. Relationships begin to be strained, close friends are now minimal. We call and she doesn’t answer. Messages are left for her to call back and never returned. Family dinners are not attended. She is losing weight which we assume is from the healthy eating. 

She begins to question her sanity because no one seems to be able to figure out what’s wrong with her. She thinks she is going crazy! She starts questioning whether God is listening to her prayers because she no longer can feel His loving arms around her. She discovers that if she drinks wine, the panic attacks are less frequent. She was essentially self-medicating. This helps in the short term but creates a whole new set of problems.

The weight loss gets extreme. She checks herself into a rehab center to get help. She is released after seven days because they said she didn’t have a problem. During that seven days she did have several panic attacks. She starts back up with the wine. After a short period, the wine quits working so she switches to Vodka. She knows that what she is doing is wrong but the attacks are becoming unbearable. She confides in us that she does not understand how she got here. This is a parent’s worst nightmare.

Then God intervenes as only he can. She has an attack while visiting with one of her doctors in her office. Tami opens up to her about what exactly has been going on. She explains to Tami that she thinks they might be seizures and not panic attacks. She immediately calls one of her neurological doctors and gets Tami an appointment the following week. We are now almost four years into this ordeal. An MRI and brain scan are ordered. Tami has a brain tumor?!

Four years and no one had even thought to check the control center of the body! Tami had been a wife, mother and career woman for four years living with a brain tumor. Sadly, this story does not have a happy ending. Thirty days after diagnosis, surgery and two weeks of the old Tami being back, she had a massive seizure, went home to be with our Heavenly Father. Isaiah 57 sums up Tami’s story very nicely,

Good people pass away:

“The Godly often die before their time

But no one seems to care or wonder why

No one seems to understand

That God is protecting them from the evil to come

For those who follow Godly paths

Will rest in peace when they die”

…Rest in peace our beloved “Sunshine”